“I cannot accept that our country has come to the point that it accepts that a baby gets torn apart while still in the womb…” MP Edwin Vassallo told Malta Today. “If we arrived to the point that we accept this, the country has lost all dignity.”

He slammed abortion as inhumane, saying: “By striving to be the same as countries abroad, it only means that we are striving to do wrong as happens abroad and to be animals like others. Because you need to be an animal to think that killing a vulnerable person is acceptable.”

The small Mediterranean nation is one of the few countries left in Europe that protects unborn babies’ right to life. Poland and Ireland are two others, though Ireland has a referendum vote on its pro-life constitutional amendment scheduled for May.

On Saturday, the Womens’ Rights Foundation [sic] introduced a proposal to legalize abortions in Malta, according to the report. On first glance, the proposal seems moderate, but the four-point measure basically could legalize abortion on demand.

The group wants abortion to be legal in cases of rape, incest, risks to the mother’s life and fatal fetal abnormalities. However, its additional point – to “preserve a woman’s physical or mental health” – would allow abortions in basically any circumstances.

Vassallo responded to the group’s claims that legalizing abortion promotes equality between men and women.

Still, the pressure continues. A few years ago, international abortion supporters accused Malta of “torture” because the country protects unborn babies’ lives. The accusation came from the International Commission of Jurists, a human rights organization, in a report to the Human Rights Council. The organization accused Malta of unnecessarily endangering women’s lives by prohibiting abortions.

Malta protects unborn babies’ right to life in all circumstances, and has excellent maternal health care.